Skylight Financial Group builds reputation for hiring from within

Marvin Fong/The Plain DealerStephanie Taylor works at her desk at Skylight Financial Group. A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Taylor applied to Skylight last July after she learned the company was rated as a premier workplace.

For all of them, managers promoted existing employees into the jobs rather than looking outside the financial planning firm.

In fact, virtually everyone hired at Cleveland-based Skylight in the last five years has moved up into better-paying positions with more responsibility as the company has grown, said Dan Brennan, 'chief marketing officer.

'That's part of the reason that Skylight has finished No. 1 for the third year in a row among small employers in The Plain Dealer's Top Workplaces recognition, Brennan said. The locally owned company employs 99, with 59 in Northeast Ohio and the rest in the Columbus area.

"The reason people are so high [on Skylight] is that most people don't consider advancement opportunities at a small company," he said. "They feel like they have to go to a bigger company to learn new things or gain additional responsibilities. In our firm, that's not the case. In fact, it's exactly the opposite.

"When we look to fill new positions with additional responsibility, we always, always, as a matter of policy, look internally."

There have been a lot of new jobs, as the company has enjoyed 20 percent annual revenue growth.

Most of the time, the employees don't have to be immediately qualified for the new post, as long as they have a track record of learning and can grow into the job, Brennan said. "We don't have to culturalize them. We just have to develop the new skill set."

As Skylight promotes from within, it has plenty of solid resumes for filling the vacant spots. Since first ranking No. 1 on the Top Workplaces list in 2010, the company is attracting applicants who want to work at the best small employer in Greater Cleveland.

"It's a rare occasion when someone does not mention our ranking during the interview process," Brennan said. While one might expect an applicant would stumble across that information while doing her homework, he said, "I think it's the rating that got them interested in us."

Stephanie Taylor, now 23, applied to Skylight last July after she learned the company was rated as a premier workplace. Taylor, who graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in interpersonal communications, wanted a job in marketing. But rather than focusing just on marketing, she said she was more interested in working for a company that was reputable and where she could move up.

She accepted a job as an administrative assistant at Skylight. Within two months, was promoted into a new job in recruiting, which she said is a blend of marketing and human resources. And it came with a sizable pay raise.

Taylor couldn't be happier. The position is exactly what she wanted, and she loves the company. "The people I work with are great and friendly. It's a great environment all around."

The culture of advancement may have started with President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Fox, who began as a sales manager. Taylor, bookkeeper Kathleen Lavelle and nine others were promoted to key positions in the last five years. Seven of those 11 began as front desk receptionists.

Besides its opportunities for advancement, Skylight is also known as a workplace where colleagues don't compete with each other but genuinely try to help one another. And then there's the somewhat unusual view of Fox, who doesn't want employees to work long hours and wants them instead to be balanced between their work life and home life. He catches employees off-guard sometimes by rewarding them with afternoons off or three-day weekends with pay in the summer.

The company's good reputation is paying off as it launches an expansion. Skylight opened a Toledo office in early May and will open a Dayton office in July. The company expects to open two more major offices in Ohio by the end of 2014. Looking out 15 years, it hopes to have 12 major offices, plus regional satellite offices, with a total of some 550 employees and financial planners.

Privately owned Skylight, part of a Massachusetts-based franchise, opened in 1996.

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